Project: Nightingale
by Takaro SoL
Summary: The year 2550, the war with the Covenant has taken its toll on the human race. As they continue to lose colonies, the UNSC seek desperately for a solution before their race is brought to extinction. This is the tale of two young children as they face the struggles that come with being candidates for a top secret government project. Largely disconnected with actual Halo Canon and AU
1. Chapter 01

**Author's Note: Greetings everyone. Today I have a special announcement: I'm rebooting this story. **

**Now I know that this story didn't actually have all that many followers (and in case any of you guys are left, you're awesome and deserve a medal or something), which I get as the original Project: Nightingale read and felt like the work of a thirteen year-old (oh wait, it was). And I'm sure there were other reasons that people didn't care for this story, but in general I can see that it wasn't exactly anything spectacular. Long story short, the original version of this story is not something I'm particularly proud of, but that's why I'm doing this.**

**However, despite the glaring flaws that the original version had, it was (in all honesty) one of my favorite ideas for a story, and I didn't want it to just lay to waste. **

**So that's why I did this. I've redone, rearranged, and rewritten the story, characters, settings, and virtually everything; and this time around I'm actually genuinely proud of how this has turned out (which is weird, cause I never do that).**

**So I think it's about time I stopped talking, and let you read. I hope you enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own a lot of this stuff, just the immediate setting, characters, and plot. Everything else belongs to 343i, so please don't sue me.**

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><p>::<strong>Project: Nightingale<strong>::

::**Chapter 1**::

_Recording Start…_

_Video and Audio Recording: Project Nightingale Training_

_Location: Elysium→Agaia→New Angeles City→Southeast Education District→Iriswright Training Facility_

_Date: 2542 October 9_

_Time: 18:00_

Inside what looked like a military base's command center was a group of five children, no older than six or seven, who were led by a man wearing a military uniform. A woman with a similar uniform was following close behind them. The man directed the children's attention to a large observation window that provided an overhead view of an expansive gym-like room. Inside were several other children in the room exercising: running obstacle courses, and practicing at firing ranges, though they were considerably older than the five watching above. Each of them performed their tasks with a surprisingly high level of skill given their apparent ages. As the children watched the training in awe, the man started to speak.

"As Colonel Brooklyn here had stated previously, the five of you have each been selected from a large pool of over a thousand other children for this project. You have each been chosen because you possessed skills, abilities, and traits that our tests deem extraordinary enough to be a candidate for our program. As per your parents' consent, you are to attend your normal elementary classes from 08:00 and 14:30, and you will report here for your training from 15:00 to 20:00. We are determined to help you become the best you can be. And with that, I welcome you to project nightin...

_Recording Terminated_

[**]

Inside that same facility was a pre-teen boy who, unlike in the recording, was completely alone. The boy sat at the central command terminal, a flat table whose surface was primarily a wide computer screen. The screen displayed the time and date: 17:59, 24 March 2550.

The boy, who was taking a nap at the table, awoke abruptly when the alarm went off at six o'clock. He swiped across the screen to shut it off, and yawned sleepily as he stretched his arms. As he rubbed his eyes, he noticed on the main screen that the icon labeled "Misc Assignments" was blinking. He tapped the icon, opening another window that contained a letter addressed to him that read,

_Dear Jr Lance Corporal Chase,_

_This is a message from the Office of Naval Intelligence, Project Nightingale board of directors. This is a reminder that you are required to submit an annual candidate report, as an active member and trainee of Project Nightingale, via a video log, detailing your experience with the project, updates on current events regarding your division, and a mandatory summary on the project from your own knowledge. This must be submitted by March 25, 2550, and failure to do so will induce consequences. Your participation in this project is greatly appreciated, and we will do our very best to take your thoughts and opinions into consideration when making improvements._

_Sincerely,_

_Office of Naval Intelligence: Project Nightingale Board of Directors; Section-4_

_March 1, 2550_

The boy snorted at the last sentence of the message. "Pft. Take our opinions and thoughts into consideration. What a bunch of crap," He muttered spitefully.

"Still, it _is _required by the board... And I don't think mom'll appreciate having to pay another really high fine..." He said to himself as he mulled it over.

"Alright, fine."

He closed the letter, and accessed the recorder app in the computer.

"Is this on? Testing, testing- Ok it's on." He spoke into the microphone to verify whether or not the recorder was on before starting the log.

"Well the _actual _assignment description says I have to give a brief description of the project first, even though I'd given it already like a billion times. To whoever it is that's supposed to listen to this, you should probably take that as a suggestion for improvement.

You should know this already, but in the event that you don't, I am one of the active operatives of the hyper-classified Project Nightingale, the newest of the crazy schemes that the UNSC and ONI are trying to use to stop the current threats to humanity's survival as a species. It's a highly classified project, which you should've already known, kinda like the Spartan Program. Just, you know, without all the grimdark aspects. Most of them anyways.

"The candidates chosen are still children with a specific set of physical, mental, and personality traits; they're put through intense physical and mental training; and are genetically augmented. Course, it's nowhere near the level the previously mentioned project mind you, but they have that in common.

Oh, and if you're wondering why I know any of that... well...I'll put it this way: whoever's in charge of monitoring the classified information that's leaked onto the network really shouldn't have his or her job anymore.

"Anyways, on the other hand there are way more differences than similarities. The genetic enhancements and training we receive are engineered to augment stealth capabilities, as opposed to the Spartans, whose training and enhancements augment their combat abilities They're also a lot safer, and carry much less of a risk of killing or horribly deforming us.

Also, we're not kidnapped, taken from our families, and replaced with flash-clones, then whisked away to some military compound on another planet to be trained. All the candidates are chosen from here on Elysium. Our parents are also notified and told that we've been chosen to be a part of this, and, and this is the best part, they actually ASK for their permission to admit us into this project.

"The reason for these things is we're trained, not to be unstoppable super-soldiers, but instead to be the perfect stealth and espionage specialists. The project is trying to develop the most effective and successful breed of stealth soldiers, who have the abilities to infiltrate enemy compounds, run counterintelligence against them, provide extensive reconnaissance information, and help to bring down the enemy from the inside.

"Now you must be wondering, WHY would any SANE parent want their children to become part of a secret government project, whose goal is literally to turn them into child-soldiers? The answer is relatively simple: we're at war with an alien empire, whose apparent goals are to wipe us off the face of the galaxy, and we're losing. Humanity is desperate, and desperation makes people do...irrational things. Though you should know all about that. I mean c'mon, YOU'RE the ones who approved it.

My name is Jr Lance Corporal Icarus Chase, and I'm one of active-duty Nightingale operatives stationed at the New Angeles training facility. Actually, scratch that, I'm the ONLY Nightingale operative stationed at this facility.

There were originally four other trainees, who were also my best friends, though starting about two years ago they all got transferred to other on the planet. I'd be lying if I said that I don't worry about them. You know, especially because we become full active-duty operatives when we enter our first year of middle school.

To put that into perspective, I am thirteen years of age as I record this, and I'm in my third and last year of middle school. We enter into active duty, as in we're actually sent on missions to break into Insurrectionist bases here on Elysium, at the age of eleven. Once again, if somebody actually listens to this, maybe you should take into consideration why it'd be a bad idea to give a bunch of preteens firearms and send them on pretty-much suicide infiltration missions.

Though I'm just ranting now. It's what happens when you're left alone for extended periods of time.

In terms of current events, there's really only one worth mentioning. My commander officer, Colonel Brooklyn, has been going to the eight other Nightingale training facilities to transfer more Nightingales here to New Angeles. According to her it's because I need more friends. Not like it's my fault I don't have any to begin with, but I know that it's just 'cause command ordered her to because New Angeles is undermanned. I should know, I'm the only one.

To be honest, I appreciate her concern, but I've lost my will to care. It's not that I like being alone, but in the end I'm just a soldier, a tool, to everyone. Maybe not the Colonel, but I really don't think it's worth it if she's doing it for my sake.

Still, I can't help but wonder who she'll find..."

[**]

_Meanwhile..._

_Elysium→Shinrin→New Kyoto Prefecture→Mizuzaki Training Facility_

_24 March 2550_

_14:00_

On the other side of the world, in the New Kyoto Prefecture, was another Nightingale training facility. Inside the facility's training area is a team of eight children who are about to begin an advanced obstacle course. The eight children face the entrance of the course, which split into four paths. As the clock starts, they divide into four pairs.

The first pair is made up of two boys: one being relatively tall and having a look of elatedness and dumb confidence, while the other was comparatively short and compacted though also shared the same look. The second pair has two identical twin girls of average height and slim builds, both looking relaxed and playful. The third pair is made up of an older girl, whose body was more muscular than that of a normal girl her age, with a look of annoyance framing her face, and a boy, much younger appearing than the others, who appeared extremely hyper-active. The last pair is composed of a well-toned boy with a confident smirk, and a short but athletic girl whose expression was unreadable and emotionless.

These children make up the New Kyoto division of Project Nightingale: Nightingale Team Shinobi. The team widely considered to be the best of the best.

The big one is Jr Private Walker Hashimoto: the team's ordinance weapon specialist. Good with explosives and heavy weapons in general, he serves as the powerhouse and is usually either the forward offense or the back-up cover fire. Not that they usually need it, being stealth specialists and all. Outside of combat he is known to be friendly, personable, and outgoing. However he also lacks tact, analytical abilities, and is extremely gullible.

The short one's name is Jr Corporal Kendall Watanabe: the team's marksman specialist. Ironically though, he rarely gets the chance to use his abilities as a sniper, instead typically serving as spotter and surveyor. Considerably more reserved and analytical, though just mischievous as his best friend Hashimoto, the two are typically paired together. Primarily because they're completely inseparable, but also due to the fact that their skill sets are able to work very well together.

The two twins are Jr Corporal Tomiko and Jr Corporal Kimiko Haley: the team's close-quarters specialists. While both possess the same general specialization, they possess two distinct combat styles. Tomiko is physically stronger, and thus specializes in hand to hand combat. Her sister Kimiko on the other hand is physically faster, and thus specializes in melee weapon combat. During missions, they're usually sent as forward to scout areas ahead and occasionally incapacitate guards. They share the same carefree, optimistic, and happy-go-lucky personality, though they occasionally come off as ditsy and attention deficit.

The older girl is Jr Sergeant Nanako Jade: the eldest Nightingale on the team and communications and electronics specialist. As a combat role, she typically hangs back to monitor the others during infiltrations as well as keep them patched to command. At fourteen years old she is the most experienced operative on the team, and has already received her genetic enhancements, thus her augmented physique. On the outside she is considered by most people to be the wisest and most mature member of the team, and she often takes the role of mediator among the others.

The younger boy is Jr Private Akira Hsu: the newest and youngest member of the team. As he is so young and inexperienced, he doesn't have a combat specialty. In terms of personality, he is considerably more naïve, childish, and immature than the others, and often comes off as overly eager and annoying, much to the chagrin of his teammates. Unlike the others, he seems to be delusional about the concept behind being a Nightingale, and appears to treat it like it is some kind of game. This has led to him seeming somewhat insubordinate, reckless, and even insensitive. However because of his exceptionally high scores for his age he was allowed to be on the active duty team.

The boy with the confident look is Jr Captain David Kita: the team's commander. While he does have remarkable fighting ability, his greatest trait is his leadership capability. Smart, charismatic, tactical, calm under pressure, works well with others, he has led Team Shinobi through all their victories one way or another. There is very little question why he was given the position of leader. However, while his combat and leadership abilities are outstanding to say in the least, his greatest flaw is his surprising lack of self-assertiveness which often keeps him from expressing his own ideas or views on subjects, especially if they differ or conflict with his superiors or peers.

And the last member, Jr Lieutenant Candice Suzuki: the second-in-command and the epitome of the perfect Nightingale. The most versatile member of Shinobi Team, she is highly adept at all forms of combat and possesses a high degree of adaptability that makes her an exceptionally dangerous fighter. She follows orders without question, and her athletic and academic performances are nothing short of amazing. However her greatest weakness is her almost complete lack of social skills or emotion. Virtually everyone, including her fellow Nightingales, would describe her as quiet and distant, and agree that her near-inability to show even a slight interest in other people (or make friends) is one of her biggest flaws.

[**]

In the command center above the training room were three adults, who watched the children through the observation window as they performed the exercise. One was a young woman in her mid-twenties, wearing a green dress uniform with a Staff Sergeant patch. The second was a man in his late-thirties, wearing a black dress uniform with a Major strap on his shoulder. The last was another woman in her mid-forties, who unlike the first two, wore a black trench coat over her uniform.

"...and that's a full rundown of each operative, Brooklyn-taisa (1)." The younger woman, Staff Sergeant Kato, told the Project-Head as she finished describing each of the operatives.

The older woman nodded. "It sounds like they really do live up to their legend then." She said approvingly.

"Thank you ma'am, I do try." The young instructor said with a slight hint of embarrassment.

"How come this team has so many members anyway?" Brooklyn asked.

"New Kyoto and her surrounding communities haven't had any qualifying candidates in the last six years." The man, Major Tachibana, answered this time "We haven't been able to get any for a second team. Sergeant Kato explained that when she was going over Jr Pvt. Hsu's file."

"I see. Also you don't have to be so tense Major." She told him, noticing how nervous he seemed.

"My apologies, Brooklyn-taisa."

"It's no problem." She replied, "Though eight members seems like a bit much."

"Their performance has been outstanding lately though." Kato pointed out.

"That is true. They have placed number one in the rankings the last two years." Tachibana added.

"Impressive indeed." The colonel agreed, "May I look at their files again?"

"Of course." Kato said as she handed her the tablet.

"Then that means…" The major began to ask.

"Yeah."

"Great..." He muttered sarcastically.

As the colonel took a look at the trainees' files, muttering something every now and again, the other two adults' attentions were diverted to the team. They had just cleared the third obstacle course and were proceeding to the final one.

"What's their time Yui-kun(3)?" The major asked the younger woman.

"Three minutes and fourteen seconds, Tachibana-sama(2)" She reported, "Half a minute off their last time."

"Half a minute?" He asked, somewhat surprised. The instructor nodded.

"That's got to be a record" The major said to himself.

"Alright, I got it." The colonel announced suddenly.

"You've already decided?" Tachibana asked somewhat incredulously.

"Yep."

"Who ma'am?" Kato asked curiously.

"I think you already know." She answered.

"Now hold on a second." Tachibana spoke up, "You only said you came here to evaluate the trainees here."

"No. I told you specifically that I came here to transfer someone to New Angeles. I've already visited the facilities in Spear Pike, Kadoshima, South Lake, and Oshite. All of them have too few members currently. New Kyoto seems to be the only one that has a more than necessary amount on their roster."

"Well with all due respect Brooklyn-taisa," the major started to say "I must strongly recommend against your decision."

"For what reason?"

"Junior Lt Suzuki is an integral part of Nightingale team Shinobi. Without even taking her skills into consideration here, she is one the longest standing members. Taking her out would greatly hinder their effectiveness as a team."

"I understand that. However, New Angeles is a crucial city on this planet. The facility only has a single active Nightingale."

"But enemy activity has NEVER been high." the major countered, "And the children aren't even sent on that dangerous of missions."

"Yes, it's true that hostile enemy activity has been low. However, protocol dictates that each of the four major cities are required to be prepared for any kind of emergency. That means at least a team, and one person isn't a team."

"And what difference would two make?"

"Well going by the records here that you kept, Lt Suzuki, by skill alone, is worth several Nightingales."

This time, Kato was the one to speak up, "Ok yes, we can agree with that. But you have to consider the consequences Brooklyn-sama."

"And those are?"

"If you transfer Lt Suzuki, you wouldn't just be taking a soldier out of a team, you'd be taking a girl, a girl who is only twelve mind you, away from her friends and her home. Most of these children have known each other since they were six, and you know as well as the rest of us that Nightingales don't make friends with civilian children. They are all they have, and you're going to take that from them?" The younger woman stated more than asked. A brief moment of silence passed, and to Kato and Tachibana's surprise, the Colonel smiled.

"I appreciate your concern Yui. Not many others understand what the Nightingales' have to go through. Even less will sympathize with them. I'm glad you're here for that." She told the younger woman, "And I'll admit, I don't like the idea either. However, there is a reason I'm doing this."

"What do you mean?" Tachibana asked.

"I see something in her. There's something about her that I can't explain now, but I know it's important."

"So woman's intuition then?" he asked sarcastically.

"Something like that."

"Well with all due respect Brooklyn-sama, I'm going to have to say that's the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard." he scoffed.

"Well either way, this is still a matter of planetary security, and I also outrank you."

"Nice try, Brooklyn-sama, but I know a bluff when I hear one, and my position stays the same." he replied. The Colonel pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed in exasperation.

"Well, what about a compromise?" Kato spoke up, surprising them both.

"Compromise?" the two senior officers asked simultaneously.

"Yes. Although I don't want to split up the kids, I don't think matters of planetary security are something we should just wave off." She told the two of them. The two officers looked at one another, solid gaze meeting solid gaze, and after a moment of silence, Tachibana was the first to say something.

"Very well. Yui-kun is right. What do you propose?"

"A single year. Lt Suzuki will only be transferred for a year to New Angeles, and after that she can return. By then, the lower division would have graduated to the active-duty division and her services would no longer be required." She explained "Do we have a deal?"

Tachibana thought about it in silence for a full minute.

"Very well, I'll have the paperwork completed as soon as possible-"

"You mean I'LL have the paperwork completed as soon as possible." Kato snarkily interjected.

"Anyways..." he continued, ignoring her, "she'll be on the other side of Elysium within the next week."

Brooklyn nodded. "Good. And don't worry Sam, she'll be in good hands."

"I just hope you know what you're doing." he answered as he turned to Kato and had her pull up the necessary transcripts and paperwork on the computer.

Before she turned to leave, Brooklyn looked through the observation window. She saw the soon-to-be transfer sitting somewhat apart from the other seven, though she still smiled.

'_They're so alike._' She thought to herself before turning to leave for Agaia.

Outside, high above New Kyoto's far reaching skyscrapers, a flock of Elysium-native avians flew north towards the mountains.

**To be continued...**

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><p><strong>TranslationTrivia Notes:**

**1. Taisa=Colonel**

**2. Sama= Honorific denoting higher respect and senior status or higher rank**

**3. Kun= Honorific denoting junior status or lower rank. Typically used for young boys, but can be used for people of either gender when used by coworkers of senior status.**

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><p><strong>Credits:<strong>

**Chief Editor: TomBuchanan26**

**Chief Translator: Nekonya1234**


	2. Chapter 02

**A/N: Second chapter. I'm working on getting a weekly schedule (at least for the first few chapters), so try to look out for those.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, except the plot, characters, and setting. Everything else belongs to 343 Industries who are awesome because they don't sue me. Thank you and have a nice day**

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><p>::<strong>Project: Nightingale<strong>::

::**Chapter 2**::

_Elysium→Agaia→New Angeles City→Southeast Education District→Iriswright Training Facility_

_29 March 2550_

_02:46_

It was early in the morning. Really early in the morning. As in _nobody-should-be-up-at-this-time _early in the morning.

Or at least, that's what Icarus thought of it.

The lights in the training facility are still on (not that it made much of a difference, as it was underground), and inside the main training room is the lone Nightingale operative of New Angeles. He's running one of the automated training courses, and is carrying a training model of an M7S Silenced Caseless Submachine gun, which shot paintballs rather than bullets. He runs down some of the hallways before stopping shortly as a simulated searchlight flashed over it. He waited until the light disappeared before quickly checking around the corner and running through.

His timing, however, wasn't as perfect as he had hoped, and the light flashed out again, temporarily blinding him. He staggered as he rubbed his eyes to try to get rid of the numerous black dots that obstructed his vision. As soon as he could see again, he saw that the timer he was trying to beat was already past the mark he was aiming for. With a groan of annoyance and disappointment, he ran down the corridor to complete the rest of the course.

The reason he was here at such an ungodly time in the morning was because his CO had called him here for a meeting about something important. Icarus, however, was less concerned about that, and more concerned about why his colonel was _two hours_ late.

As he finally reached the end of the course and crossed the finishing line, he looked up at the display board suspended above the room.

"Dammit." He muttered angrily as he saw the time it showed, "Why can't I beat that stupid time?"

He was startled for a second when a small face towel unexpectedly hit him in the side of his head. He shifted into a defensive stance and turned towards the thrower, however he lowered his guard when he noticed that the perpetrator was his commanding officer.

"Oh it's just you, ma'am." He said as he slowly picked up the towel and wiped the sweat off his face.

"You're welcome by the way," the woman replied casually, "I'm surprised you came this early."

"Yeah, I would have finally gotten a full night of sleep if you hadn't called me," He replied, "So you'll have excuse the higher level of sarcasm."

"Fine, it's warranted I suppose. But you know you didn't have to come this early right?"

There was a pause as the young boy's tired head processed what his commander had said, "...huh?"

"I said to come as soon as possible, not right this minute. Why do you think I'm late?"

"Are you kidding me?!" he asked irritably.

"Well either way, it's good that you're here. Saves me the trouble of telling you later."

"Alright fine, why not?" He sighed as he took a seat.

"Well good news, I managed to get you a new partner," the colonel told him cheerfully.

The boy's response on the other hand wasn't nearly as lively, "Oh, cool."

"What? That's it? I was expecting at least a little enthusiasm."

"Well I suppose I won't have as many assignments to do, and I might actually be able to do those training exercises that are meant for—"

"You know that's not what I meant," she cut him off. Icarus didn't respond immediately.

"I know what you meant, ma'am." He replied with a sigh, "Look Colonel, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but I really don't need you to do this for my sake."

Brooklyn looked at the boy with a solid gaze. "Icarus, look," she started "I know you don't think you need a partner, or even other people, but believe me when I say this: the path of a loner is not a path you want to travel down."

"I don't need friends," Icarus stated firmly. "That's how it's been for the last year and a half since Wil, Nam, Li, and Garcia left."

"I stand by my statement," she replied. "It's not good to not have friends."

"Whatever," he replied under his breath. Whether or not the colonel didn't hear him or simply ignored him wasn't clear, though she chose to continue.

"Anyways, your new teammate will be arriving from the New Kyoto Prefecture in two days—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on a second." Icarus interrupted, "You got someone from Team Shinobi? THE Team Shinobi?" he asked with disbelief.

"That's the one. I didn't know you knew anything about the other teams."

"Well who hasn't heard of the legendary Team Shinobi? They're like Spartans!"

"Yes, they are indeed," she replied.

"Well who'd you get?"

"Her name's Candice, Candice Suzuki. Lieutenant Candice Suzuki."

"Um, it's a girl?" He asked nervously.

"Yes."

"And there's only one?"

"Yes. I said partner didn't I?"

"Well, yeah. I'm just making sure." He replied in the most calm voice he could manage (which wasn't much).

Although unconvinced, Brooklyn didn't continue to pressure him. "Well alright. She'll be arriving in two days, so keep the place clean," she told him as she turned around.

"Yes ma'am."

"Good. Now I think you should go home to get some sleep—" she started to say when she heard a soft thump behind her. As she turned around, she saw that he had collapsed on the ground.

"—Or just sleep here. That's fine too, I suppose," she said to herself as she pulled out her communicator.

"Hello, Diane? It's Alex... I'm doing well, thank you... Yes, I was just going to ask you about that... Yes he just crashed... Yes, again... Of course he can sleep here... Ok, I'll make sure he brushes his teeth... Ok, thank you... Yes, you're welcome... Good night." She closed her communicator and walked over to pick up the sleeping boy and take him over to the overnight quarters.

[**]

_Elysium→Shinrin→New Kyoto Prefecture→Mizuzaki Training Facility_

_29 March 2550_

_22:57_

At a slightly more acceptable time (on the other side of the planet), Junior Captain Kita walks down a hallway alongside his CO, Major Tachibana.

"Tachibana-sama, why does Jr Suzuki Chūi have to transfer? Doesn't New Angeles have enough Nightingales?" the boy asked for the fourth time that night.

"It's the New Angeles Division, Kato-kun. You know as well as I do how crucial it is that that division is able to operate effectively. Especially with no word from the Navestrom facility in over six months now." the Major answered sternly.

"I know, but are you sure Cand—Suzuki Chūi should be transferred? Think about the team. Morale will certainly go down; our effectiveness as a team will certainly drop. Plus, as her...close friend, I know better than anyone that she has a lot of trust issues, and that she can be very emotionally unstable."

"Yes, I know. And I've told all of this to Brooklyn-Taisa. But she won't budge. I've tried to go through this with ONI, but they all agree that Jr. Lt. Suzuki should be transferred. They all know that how crucial it is to have some backup at New Angeles' facility because of it's role on Elysium," she explained. "I'm sorry David-kun, but we can't do anything."

"Hai, shōsa-sama(1)," he answered reluctantly. He saluted his senior officer and headed left down the hallway to tell the others.

"What did he say?" Kendall asked immediately as the junior captain entered the room. Their hopes dimmed greatly as they saw his downcast expression.

"We can't change it," he answered sullenly, "I'm sorry Kyan, but there's nothing we can do."

The girl was silent, her normally emotionless visage holding a slightly downcast expression. Many would've seen this as apathy. Her teammates, however, knew that the fact that she was showing emotion _at all _meant that she was indeed hurt.

"It's… It's alright, Dei-kun. I appreciate it," she told him softly. The boy cringed, knowing that he probably just made her feel worse.

"We're going to miss you Kyan!" the twins said simultaneously as they hugged her.

"Yeah, us too." Kendall said for both him and Walker, the latter being preoccupied as he suddenly picked up the three girls in a massive bear hug.

"Same with me Candice," Nanako told her after Walker put them down. The younger girl nodded.

"I haven't known you for long, but you're a really good and pretty and stuff, so I'll miss you too,"Akira said rather tactlessly, earning several glares from his teammates. Candice didn't seem to mind though.

"Arigato, minna-san (2). It means a lot," she said with a tearful smile. Everyone turned to look at their commander, the only one who hadn't said his meaningful goodbye. He sighed sheepishly.

"C'mon guys, you know I don't do emotional speeches," he tried to evade.

Unconvinced, Kendall whispered something to Walker. The larger boy nodded, and (somehow) managed to get behind the commander and hold him in place. As soon as they were certain that he couldn't move, the other Nightingales, sans Candice, got up and walked out of the command room.

"Hey! Guys! Cut it out! That's an order! Walker, put me down!" he protested as they all exited, smirks on their faces. Once the last one was out, Walker quickly let his commander go and dove for the exit.

"Ok, so we're gonna get some sleep cause we'll have to get up early for that thing tomorrow. Though seeing as you two outrank us, you can stay up," Nanako told them with a smirk on her face (which was shared by the five others).

"So have fun guys. Just not too much fun." Kendall joked as they closed the door

"And don't get anything gross on the floor!" The two Nightigales heard Akira shout through the wall, which was subsequently followed by the painful sound of someone's palm striking a cheek, as well as a very loud "OWW!"

The two Nightingales looked at each other, and after a somewhat awkward minute of silence, both laughed.

The last one they'd share for awhile.

[**]

_The next morning..._

"Oh what now?" Akira complained groggily as he woke up to the blaring wail of the facility siren.

"That's the emergency alarm" Kendall, who was already up and putting on his undersuit along with Walker, told the younger boy. "Something must be up."

"Hey guys, c'mon! Tachibana-sama wants us in the command room in five minutes!" Nanako told the three boys, as she and the twins passed their room.

"Ryōkai(3), tell them we'll be there ASAP" the diminutive marksman replied.

As soon as Akira got his suit on, the three headed over to meet up with the others.

"Thirty seconds," the kids' instructor reported as they entered. "Just barely made it."

"Bite m—OW!" Akira started to say before getting a smack to the back of the head from Walker.

"Ok settle down you guys" David, standing next to their commanding officer, ordered.

"Thank you Jr Taichō," he told him before addressing the assembled Nightingales. "Team, as you know a Pelican dropship was enroute to New Kyoto, carrying highly classified data. It was scheduled to arrive at approximately oh five hundred. However it never arrived, as it was shot down forty eight klicks beyond the prefecture border," the major explained as he pulled up the map on the central command terminal.

"Do we know who shot it down?" Walker asked.

"We don't have any confirmed reports, but our best guess is that it's the Insurrection," Sgt Kato answered.

"Correct," Tachibana affirmed. "While they haven't been very active as of late, given that they are the only confirmed enemy faction located on Elysium, they're our best guess."

"So how' we do?" Akira asked.

"Well, I know you guys haven't had a live mission in a while, though I do have some reservations about sending you out there now. Especially if there's going to be Innsur—"

"C'mon Shōsa-sama!" Kimiko exclaimed.

"Yeah, we have the skills, and we haven't gotten to use them, you have to let us go!" Her sister followed.

"I agree with the twins, shōsa-sama." Kendall declared.

"As do I," Nanako followed. Walker and Akira also expressed their own agreement soon after.

Tachibana didn't say anything immediately.

"If I may, Tachibana-sama," David spoke up. "I believe that the team is more than capable of handling a retrieval mission. We can do this." The boy had a look of determination on his face, one that told him his certainty.

The major shook his head. "So it's unanimous then?"

"Hai, Shōsa-sama," Candice, who had not spoken until that point, answered him.

The senior officer glanced over at Kato. To his surprise, even she seemed to agree with them.

"Very well…" he finally said with a sigh. "Permission granted, Team Shinobi. Head over to the armor bay and suit up. You're heading out in fifteen minutes."

"Ryōkai."

The eight nightingales saluted their commander before filing out of the command center. They made their way down to the armory. They stood patiently in front of the door, silently waiting as the two massive plates slid backwards and opened before them.

The inside of the room was fairly large, though most of it was taken up by several machines which held in place eight sets of Semi-Powered Infiltration armor, the armor suits most commonly used by the top secret Spartan-III super soldiers.

Unlike the Spartans' however, these suits were not uniform, and each suit was unique to their respective Nightingale. Only Akira's was unchanged of the eight, though each one was specially designed and customized to fit each of them. Walker's was larger and bulkier than the standard model. Kendall's possessed built-in binoculars on the helmet and a camo tent that covered the upper torso. Kimiko's was designed with a streamlined frame. Tomiko's had emphasis on the armor around the forearms and legs. Nanako's possessed multiple communications attachments. David's incorporated several up-armored attachments on key parts of the armor as well as a small wrist-mounted tacpad. Candice's was designed with a lighter frame and, similarly to David's, had pieces of up-armor plates on the vital parts of her suit.

The eight children stepped onto a platform with the machines. After verifying that they were the correct users, the machines whirred to life and began to move around them. They attached the plates of armor to the Nightingales, slowly beginning with the hands and feet as they moved up towards the torso. As soon as the main pieces were attached, the children each pressed a button on their forearm armor, causing the plates of armor to seal and connect. The machines finished the armor equipping process by placing the helmets onto their heads, which automatically activated their heads-up-display as soon as they connected with the armor.

Fully armored, the children stepped off the platforms and lined up in front of another door opposite of the entrance. The door slowly opened to reveal a rack of several strange weapons. Shaped similarly to futuristic (well, by twenty first century standards) rifles, each were about two-thirds the length of a Sniper Rifle, with small energy cell-like cartridges packed next to them. The children each picked one up, with the exception of the twins who instead each grabbed a pair of humbler stun devices, and attached them to their backs.

The now fully equipped Nightingales headed out of the armory and proceeded to the airpad. As they entered the room, they were greeted by the sight of a modified transport UH-144 Falcon drop ship, which possessed two extra seats and completely black paint job. The Nightingales each took up a seat on the transport, with the exception of Nanako who was the designated pilot for the team. As soon as they were all situated within the Falcon, the ceiling slowly split apart and the platform began to rise. Nanako hit a few buttons a flipped several switches. The engines began to whir as they started up, and the rotors on the sides of the VTOL transport started to spin, slowly increasing in velocity and lifting the vehicle above the ground. The ceiling above had retreated, allowing a clear view of the twilight sky.

The pilot of the Falcon slowly tightened her index finger on the control, and the rotors spun faster, allowing it to rise at a much faster pace. As soon as they reached an acceptable height, Nanako pushed the controls forward, flying towards their mission.

**To be continued...**

* * *

><p><strong>TranslationTrivia Notes: **

**1. "Shōsa": Major**

**2. "Arigato, minna-san": "Thank you, everyone."**

**3. "Ryōkai": Roger**

**4. "****Taich****ō": Captain**

**Credits:**

**Chief Editor: TomBuchanan26**

**Chief Translator: Nekonya1234**


	3. Chapter 03

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, except the plot, characters, and setting. Everything else belongs to 343 Industries who are awesome because they don't sue me for using their stuff.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>::<strong>Project: Nightingale<strong>::

::**Chapter 3**::

_Elysium→Shinrin→__New Kyoto Prefecture→__Outskirts_

_30 __March 2550_

_07:00_

It has just crossed from twilight to dawn on the eastern peninsula of New Kyoto. The outskirts were covered in silence and the dim morning light of the rising sun.

Flying over the dry grasslands that surround New Kyoto is a modified transport Falcon drop ship, carrying the eight members of Nightingale Team Shinobi.

"Alright guys, you know the drill: we go in, we check the area, we recover the objective, and we make sure we aren't seen. Understood?" Jr Captain Kita told his team from the center seat.

"Ryōkai,"(1) they responded in unison. The falcon landed in an open area, and the team began to disembark. Kendall, Akira, Tomiko, and Kimiko all hopped off first from their external seats and were followed by Walker, Candice, and David who sat inside the Falcon. They scanned the area to check for anybody before David signaled for the pilot to land the aircraft. After all eight Nightingales were boots on the ground, they received a waypoint on their HUDs, pointing them to the east.

"That must be the location," Jade observed.

Kita nodded, "Alright, ikuze Shinobi-dan!(2)"

The whole team cloaked their armor, and started sprinting towards the waypoint. After they ran about fifty meters across the empty and open grassland, they could see a smoke trail coming from a large box canyon. They reached the edge of the canyon and saw that the source of the smoke was indeed the crashed pelican.

"Kendo, thermal scan the area," Kita ordered. The marksman nodded and took a look through his rifle's scope.

"Its kinda hard to see, but I don't seem to detect any life signs, Taichō(3)," the marksman reported. "Though it was definitely shot down, not some kind of thruster failure."

Kita nodded, "Understood. I'll take a small team down there to investigate. Akira-kun, Kimi-chan, Tomi-chan, Kyan-chan, follow me. Kendo-kun, keep watch on the area, and alert us if you see anything suspicious. Oka-kun, you'll be on stand-by for back up. And Nanako-san, keep us patched to command."

"Ryōkai," they responded again in unison. Watanabe crouched into prone and continued watching the area through his scope. Kita and his team proceeded to slide down the rock face. As soon as they reached the ground, they headed over towards the crash site. Upon reaching the wreckage, Kita ordered the four others to investigate.

"We can't find anything Kita-sama!" the twins yelled from from inside crash.

"Nothing to report Taichō," Suzuki reported quietly after checking around the area.

"I can't find anything either. Well except all these dead guys," Hsu rather insensitively, earning him more than a few glares from his teammates.

"Alright. Kendo, what do you see?" Kita asked through the comm.

"Still no mov- wait, I see something," Watanabe reported as he noticed the two aircraft that were approaching the canyon. "Two Innie Dropships! Two-hundred klicks south and heading towards your position!" he exclaimed.

"Ryōkai! Everyone hide!" the young captain ordered. The Nightingales all nodded and activated camouflage systems, instantly causing their armor to fade from visibility. As soon as they were about ninety-nine percent invisible, they all hid atop the Pelican crash, taking hiding spots on the upturned wing. They stayed as motionless as they could so as to keep their visibility as low as possible as they watched the two black, insurrectionist-marked Pelicans as they descended. They landed next to the crash, and from both deployed five insurrectionist marines. They spread out over the area, securing the ground and checking the vicinity for anything that might be alive. Of course they weren't exactly expecting a group of invisible preteens to be, well, anywhere, to be honest, and didn't bother to look for them.

As soon as they verified that, as far as they could tell, the area was clear, one of the marines shouted to one of the Pelicans. From within the Pelican's internal bay stepped out a tall Shinrinese man, wearing what was undeniably an elite officer's uniform, though its colors were insurrectionist black and red. He carried himself with an air of arrogance and pride, and he surveyed the area the same way a tyrant views his kingdom.

He barked something in Ur-Shinrinese(4) to his soldiers, which most of the Nightingales present didn't understand.

"Hsu-kun, what did he say?" Kita whispered to the younger Nightingale, as he was the only one who understood the dialect due to being the only one to be raised in a traditional Shinrinese home.

"He said something about 'Find the box. We have to bring the data back to headquarters'." he whispered in reply.

Suddenly the Nightingales' attention was turned back to the ground as one of the insurrectionists exclaimed, "Found it!" The man held a small black metal box in his hands, which he carried over to their commander. He inspected it and a small grin appeared on his face.

The Nightingales had no idea what was in that box, but they knew it couldn't be good.

"That must be the top-secret cargo..."

"...that was enroute to New Kyoto." the twins said, finishing the other's sentences.

"Really? You think?" Hsu asked snarkily, earning him a soft smack to the side of his helmet from Tomiko (though how she could tell which invisible helmet was his was mere luck).

"Cut it out you two. But you're right, that has to be the thing we're looking for."

"Well we can't let the innies have it can we?" Hsu said eagerly as he stood up.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What the heck do you think you're doing?" Tomiko demanded as she gripped his ankle to stop him.

"What? We have to stop them, we can't just let the innies get their hands on… well whatever it is they're trying to get their hands on." the younger boy answered.

"Oh, and you think blowing our cover and busting in guns blazing will make much of a difference?" Kita retorted "Our weapons don't even have live ammunition!"

"Well you're the leader, what's the plan?"

The young field commander took a quick look at the area beneath them, taking note of the ten soldiers and their various positions. It's been awhile since they've actually had to even come into contact with enemy forces, but Jr Captain David Kita wasn't about to let that stop them now.

"Ok," he told the four other Nightingales with him. "Here's the plan..."

[**]

_Meanwhile__…_

_Elysium→Agaia→New Angeles→Southeast Education District→Iriswright Middle School_

_2550 March 30_

_11:55_

On the other side of Elysium, the lone Nightingale of New Angeles was doing something considerably less dangerous and, in his opinion, less fun than his counterparts in New Kyoto. He was sitting at school, at his desk, listening to his history teacher talk about the creation of something called a shawn-fuji-something engine, and how it made some revolutionary thing possible. Something about either space travel or ice cream making. He wasn't really paying attention.

Though to give him credit, neither was anyone else in the room, and the teacher's extreme monotone made it very difficult to do so anyways. Needless to say, everyone in the room, awake or otherwise, were fairly glad when the lunch bell rang.

"Oh, look at that. Well class, your homework is to read chapter…" the teacher began to say, not that Icarus, nor his classmates, really heard him as they were already either getting up or running out the door.

As he began packing up his things, the intercom sounded off to give the usual noontime announcements: stuff related to sports, club meetings, etc. However at the end, Icarus' attention was drawn when the girl on the intercom said, "...And Icarus Chase, to the front desk please."

Curious, he slung his backpack over his shoulder and headed out the door. As he walked through the hallways towards the office, he passed by about a hundred other students. Fifty percent of them he didn't even know, thirty percent he could remember the faces of, fifteen percent that knew him, and five percent he knew personally, and wish didn't.

And unfortunately, he just walked into a group of them.

"Hey, Chase. Heard you got called to the office again. What'd you do this time?" A large, fairly imposing older boy, who very clearly was too old to be in the eighth grade, asked the young Nightingale as he blocked his path.

"Shove it. I'm too tired to deal with you idiots right now."

"Oh really? Well, exactly what are you going to do about it?" the larger boy taunted him, and silently commanded the two others on his sides to surround the Nightingale.

_'Oh great...' _Icarus thought to himself. He mentally took a note of his adversaries. They were bigger than him, that was for sure. However, they also had a much slower reaction time than he did and were probably a lot slower than him in general.

He briefly considered full-on incapacitating them, knowing that it would take less than a minute. Though the reasonable part of his mind kept telling him that he'd be in for a lot more hell if he blew his cover.

Luckily, for both sides, he didn't have to.

"Mr. Gomez, is there a problem here?" Principal Brooklyn asked, after having seemingly appeared out of thin air behind him, causing the bully and his minions to jolt up suddenly.

"Uh… Um…No Principal! We were… Just, um…" the boy stuttered as he tried to explain himself.

"We were just saying hi!" one of his friends quickly lied to cover up.

"Yeah! What he said!"

"Ah I see," she replied, unconvinced by their cover-up though not interested enough to press further. "Is that true Mr. Chase?" In response, he simply shrugged. He couldn't care less what became of them.

"Well alright. You three, head off to lunch," she ordered them. The three nodded vigorously before scrambling out. Icarus couldn't suppress a smirk as he watched them run off, tails between their legs.

"Sorry about that Icarus," the principal apologized sheepishly. "They didn't give you too much trouble did they?"

"No ma'am." He answered.

"Good, now if you don't mind, may I see you in my office?"

Icarus nodded though didn't respond verbally. They turned down the hallway and headed to the front office.

"Icarus, please sit down," the principal/colonel told him as they stepped into her office. The Nightingale nodded and took a seat in the chair across the desk.

"Are you hungry? I know you didn't really get to eat breakfast this morning," the woman asked offhandedly. Icarus shook his head.

"Are you sure?"

Icarus nodded.

"Well alright. I'm assuming you must be tired."

Again, he nodded.

"Alright, this won't take too long. Do you remember that mission where you recovered a data key card from a insurrection camp?"

He nodded in affirmative.

"Ok good. That leads to my second question, do you still have it?"

He nodded.

"You know you have permission to speak, right?"

He nodded.

"Right," she sighed. "Well anyways back to the point, you have a new assignment."

The colonel half-expected a verbal response, though after a half a minute of awkward silence, decided to just continue.

"Intel suggests that there is an Insurrectionist hideout in the business district of New Angeles. It also suggests that the key card you recovered can get you inside," she explained as the boy listened silently. "You know the rest of the drill."

He nodded.

"Good, any questions?"

Icarus shook his head this time.

"Alright. Consider this getting an early dismissal, you deploy in thirty minutes."

He nodded and got up. He turned towards the door,

"Anything else?" he suddenly spoke, briefly startling her and causing her to curse under her breath.

"No... Actually yeah, Lieutenant Suzuki will be arriving tomorrow afternoon, so clean up the facility."

"Ok," he answered with a nod before heading out the door and off to the compound.

[**]

_Back with the New Kyoto team..._

Jr Cpt Kita stood atop the downed dropship, holding on to the wing so as to not fall off. Below him were the ten Insurrection soldiers who were still waiting for their commander's orders, unaware of the four invisible children that were hidden among them.

"Ok, is everyone in position?" the young commander asked over the comm.

He heard various affirmative from his teammates before crouching down. He activated his VISR, causing the various persons below him to be highlighted in green or red, allowing him to see his friends.

"Ok, we only have one shot at this you guys, so let's get it right."

"Ryōkai."

Kita pulled out his stun rifle and leveled it on one of the soldiers below.

_'Ok. Ten bad guys, five of us. We have one shot at this,'_ he thought to himself.

The other four shared their captain's anxiety (well except maybe Hsu). They knew how dangerous this actually was, and if they failed... Well they didn't like to think about that.

As the sat in their crouched positions, they immediately shifted into a ready stance as they heard Kita start to count down.

"Jū, kyū..."

The nightingales stood on edge.

"...hachi, shichi, roku..."

They began to charge up their rifles.

"...go, shi..."

The leveled their weapons on the backs of the targets they had to take out.

"...san, ni, ichi..."(5)

The nightingales remained frozen, a very brief silence broken only by the sound of wings flapping somewhere overhead. Several of the soldiers turned to see the avians in the distance.

"...zero."

Five electrical sparks went off, which were quickly followed by five more. Just as quickly the ten soldiers dropped the the ground, leaving the commander the only one conscious.

"Someone stun him!" Kita ordered. One of the invisible twins, Kimiko from the looks of it, moved to engage. However, to her immense surprise, the man sidestepped her.

"Omae wa suru hitsuyō ga bēta sore yori mo yaru."(6) the Insurrectionist commander announced, revealing his knowledge of their presence.

There was a pause. The Nightingales frozen in shock, a single thought they shared ringing through their heads, '_Nani?_'(7)

The stillness was broken as the Insurrectionist pulled out a flash-bang grenade from his belt, and dropped it to the ground.

"Oh crap! Everyone fall back!" Kita ordered before the split second before the grenade went off.

**To be continued...**

* * *

><p><strong>TranslationTrivia Notes:**

**1. ****Ryōkai=Roger**

**2. Ikuze, shinobi-dan=Let's go (team)Shinobi!**

**3. ****Taich****ō=Captain**

**4. Ur-Shinrinese=Old or original Japanese. A language dialect spoken by few Shinrinese. The "traditional" Japanese language (the language Japanese people today speak), differs from the Pro-Shinrinese dialect in that the former is an offshoot from the former and is more "Japanese". Pro-Shinrinese is considered less of a language and more of a dialect, as it largely just incorporates Japanese words and phrases into the designated/primarily spoken language of Elysium (Which is English)**

**5. Jū, kyū, hachi, shichi, roku, go, shi, san, ni, ichi= Japanese numerals from ten to one**

**6. ****Omae wa suru hitsuyō ga bēta sore yori mo yaru=You'll have to do better than that (my pathetic attempt at writing in a language I have a single strand of understanding of. If anyone knows how this would actually be written, please correct me.)**

**7. Nani?=What? (Think "in astonishment")**

**Credits:**

**Chief Editor: TomBuchanan26**

**Chief Translator: Nekonya1234**


	4. Chapter 04

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, except the plot, characters, and setting. Everything else belongs to 343 Industries who are awesome because they don't sue me for using their stuff.**

**Thanks for reading!**

* * *

><p>::<strong>Project: Nightingale<strong>::

::**Chapter 4**::

_Elysium→Agaia→New Angeles City→East Business District→Insurrectionist Hideout (?)_

_30 March 2552_

_12:39_

It was noon time in the mega city of New Angeles. The peaceful Agaian residents were all currently on their lunch break. Down on the ground level of the city were hundreds of thousands of people, all carrying on without a care in the world.

The skyscrapers of the city stretched high into the clouds above, giving a very literal meaning to their name. Office workers could be seen through the windows, going about their normal lives.

There was one building in particular: the Mirage Tower financial building: a massive skyscraper that reached at least a thousand meters tall, it was one of the most well known structures in the megacity, and one of its most noticeable and obvious landmarks. Nobody would expect anything sinister or malignant was happening there.

Though of course, that's why it's the best place to hide it.

Atop the roof of one of the somewhat shorter skyscrapers south of the tower is a set of metal tubes used for the air conditioning ducts.

One of them, however, is not.

The side panel of the tube slowly slides out of the way, revealing a high tech tunnel with rails on the far back. Had anyone been nearby, they would've heard an echoing rushing noise coming from the tube, which gradually got louder, and louder.

And also had someone been standing there, they would been knocked back fairly far by the impact of the child sized armored figure that ejected from the tube at about fifty miles an hour.

The figure was clad in jet black SPI armor, trimmed in emerald green. It was somewhat more streamlined and aerodynamic than most other suits, and had built-in fins on the limbs and helmet. Attached to the armor's back was a metallic pack, whose railings were still red hot from the trip up there.

The figure stood up and turned around to face the tower before heading over to the edge of the building. It raised its head to the tower, searching the surface for an opening. Having found it, the small infiltrator took several steps back to get a good enough distance between itself and the ledge. As soon as he reached a suitable distance the figure paused, almost as if taking a breath, and sprinted towards the edge. At the dropping point, the figure jumped off and dived down. After a fair half a minute in free fall, a pair of gliding wings extended from the pack, at which point the figure pulled into an upward climb. Gliding upwards towards the roof of the building, the figure activated the thruster on the pack, boosting towards the target. As soon as it had ascended above the edge of the building, the wings retracted inwards and the infiltrator dropped and landed on the roof (with a pretty awesome ground-pound as well).

Standing up, the figure detached the harness holding the glider to its back, and activated the SPI suit's cloaking, shimmering into invisibility. Turning towards the skyline view's entrance, the infiltrator ran inside.

"Command, this is Angel 3," Nightingale Icarus Chase said into his comm as soon as he got inside. "I'm in the tower, over."

"Copy that Angel 3," the handler on the other end responded after some static. "The mainframe should be a fifty meters north of your position. You have exactly one hour and twenty-five minutes to accomplish your mission."

"Copy that, Angel 3 out," he said before switching off his comm. He waited for a few seconds as his heads-up-display selected the path to the waypoint. As soon as it found it, the infiltrator started to silently sprint down the corridor.

Running down the halls without making any noise, he passed several office rooms filled with hundreds of normal workers and businessmen, unbeknownst to the sinister purpose the Mirage Tower actually held. After twisting through the winding hallways, descending staircases, and dodging civilians, he reached his waypoint.

"Ok what gives?" Icarus asked himself as he stood in front of a bare, insignificant wall in the middle of a three path intersection. "I don't see any door here."

As soon as he asked, he heard footsteps from the corridor adjacent to the left of him. He backtracked a few steps and almost stumbled before hiding behind a plant. Three men came around the corner. Two were wearing suits and dark shades, giving the impression of secret-service agents or something, and were carrying M7S silenced submachine guns. The third one however, was instead wearing a steel and crimson Orbital Drop Shock Trooper Battle Dress Uniform and carried a briefcase and an M45 Tactical Shotgun attached to his back. On his chest plate and shoulder plates were the insignia of the Office of Naval Intelligence.

"Alright," the presumed ODST said said as he stopped them in front of the wall and checked around. "You two, guard this door. Make sure no one gets inside until I'm out. Understood?"

"Yes sir," They answered.

The ODST lifted up his arm and brought a forearm-mounted TACPAD to his face. He typed a code into it, and immediately the doors split apart.

'Oh, there's the door'

The ODST walked inside, and as soon as he crossed the threshold, the entrance began to seal.

'Oh crap…' Icarus thought as he made a break for the entrance. His suit's stealth capabilities still allowed him to move in near silence and invisibility, though he did notice one of the guards turn his head at the shimmer of light that moved past him as Icarus dove into the room.

'I really hope they didn't see me…' the infiltrator thought as soon as he was inside. He was about to proceed forward when he very quickly stopped himself from colliding into the ODST standing a few inches in front of him.

"What was that?" the ODST asked to no one.

'_Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!' _

Remaining as frozen and motionless as possible to keep the integrity of his camouflage as solid as possible, Icarus' heart-rate skyrocketed as he did his best to not be detected and possibly shot.

"Hmm… must've been my imagination," the ODST said to himself before turning around and proceeding down the dark hallway.

With the danger somewhat lessened, the young infiltrator relaxed his muscles and let out a sigh of relief.

'_Ok, guess I just follow him…_'

[**]

_Elysium→Shinrin→New Kyoto Prefecture→Outskirts_

_30 March 2550_

_07:45_

"Shinobi-dan, kōtai!(1)" Kita ordered through as soon as the four other members emerged from the smokescreen he deployed from his suit.

"Everyone, back to the cliffs!" the young captain ordered before switching comm channels.

"Jade-san, contact shōsa-sama," he ordered through the commline. "Call in reinforcements!"

"What!? You know that's only supposed to be a last resort!" the communications officer responded.

"That's why I'm ordering you to do it!"

There was a pause of hesitation, "Alright, copy that."

Switching off his comm, the captain continued to sprint towards the cliffs where his friends were waiting. Glancing back towards the wreckage for a split second, Kita saw the smoke clearing and the insurrectionists getting back up, as well as the commander seemingly staring back at him.

"Oh great…" he said to himself.

"..._static_…Senchō! It's Watanabe, the twins and Hsu are here, we're just missing you and Kyan-san!" the marksman reported over the comm.

"What?! Where is she?"

"Wait, she's not with you?"

"No, I have no idea—" the young captain's thought was interrupted by the sound and force of five orbital drop pods smashing into the ground, throwing him several feet forward onto his back.

[**]

_Meanwhile… _

Icarus followed the Insurrectionist down the hallway, making sure to keep his distance, into a large command center-like room. Filling the room where data stacks and computer consoles, along with a large mainframe with a three large screens in the middle back wall. With the destination reached, the young infiltrator broke off his tailing to find a port in the mainframe where he could plant the bug in. As soon as he found it, he pulled out the data key card and placed it under a scanner. After waiting a few moments, the screen above it lit up with the words: "_Welcome Commander Winslow" _displaying over the screen.

'Huh, so that's who I stole this from.'

Icarus took out the data drive from his suit's compartment and plugged it into the console and waited for it to upload.

Suddenly, the three main screens behind him lit up. One was a video feed of a few group of insurrections in battle with a team of UNSC ODSTs outside of a crashed pelican, the other showed a woman in an officer's uniform.

"Well they're screwed," the ODST observed apathetically.

"Yes, I see that," the woman said in semi-agreement before addressing him.

"Do you have anything to report, lieutenant?"

"Nothing for now commander," he answered straight before swapping the tone of his voice to a more dry and snarky one, "though I'm pretty sure our friend Captain Watanoku isn't going to make it to the next board meeting."

"This isn't a joke," the commander scolded. "You know how important the contents of that package are. The UNSC cannot be allowed to retrieve it."

"Well you see ma'am, with all due respect, I don't exactly see the point in such an asinine and absurd science experiment like this one."

"Well while I agree with you on your sentiment on Project Raptor, we both know it's not up to either of us. It's up to the guys upstairs, and they think its a good idea."

'I wonder what they're talking about…' Icarus thought to himself as he waited for the upload to complete.

"UPLOAD COMPLETE," the computer loudly announced.

'_Oh crap!'_

"Lieutenant, what was that?" the woman asked.

"I'm not sure ma'am," he replied. "Sounded like someone just finished uploading something. Though how could that have—"

"You have an intruder, Lieutenant. I suggest you find them, and stop them from whatever it is they are doing."

"Right. Consider it done ma'am," he replied. The woman on the other end nodded and signed off. The ODST activated a panel, creating several laser-trip wire alarms to go up.

"Alright you little punk," the ODST said before arming several auto-turrets around the room. "Let's see you sneak through this."

_'Well that's just great'_ Icarus thought. The young nightingale looked around the room, using his HUD to scan for a path out of his predicament.

In less than a minute, it found it. Taking a deep breath, the Nightingale began to swerve, duck, roll, and weave through the laser-grid, executing each move with amazing precision. Goal in sight, Icarus' muscles relaxed as he approached the exit. Closing in on the threshold, the Nightingale's hand was almost past…

"INTRUDER DETECTED. TARGET LOCKE,." the automated voice blared as his shoulder fin just _barely_ tripped the alarm.

'Oh, _crap_.'

[**]

"Ahh!"

"Oh good you're awake," Nanako said as she watched her commander wake up with a jolt.

"Nanako-san? What happened?" the younger Nightingale asked. Looking around, he saw that he was lying in the field next to the Falcon, the others checking the damages they sustained on their armor.

"You got knocked out when you were running back to the cliffs," his comm specialist told him, "when the ODSTs dropped down."

"So does that mean—"

"We failed?" the team's training instructor/handler finished for him over the comm-link. "Yeah. Sorry kids, but we'll have to leave this one to the professionals."

"Kuso…(2)"

"Watch the language, Senchō," Kato scolded. "You guys get back to base, you still have school today, and it would be better if Shōsa-sama doesn't find out until later."

"Ryōkai, Kato-sama," David responded before switching off his comm.

"So if we're up here…"

"...Everyone's accounted for," Nanako affirmed as she helped him up. "Yeah."

"Alright. Let's head back home," he said to everyone. With several nods, the Nightingales all took up their seats on the Falcon. Before he got in, the Jr Captain noticed Candice standing a few meters away, staring back at the crash site.

"Kyan-chan, c'mon," he said to his friend. "We gotta go."

The quiet girl didn't say anything as she silently stared off into the distance as the sun rose above the horizon, its light reflecting off their armor plates.

"Kyan-chan? What's wrong?" he asked again.

This time she let out a sigh.

"Nanimo, Dei-kun(3)," she replied emotionlessly. "Ikimashō."

Turning back towards the Falcon, the assembled Team Shinobi flew back off towards their home.

[**]

The lights in the command center flashed on, temporarily blinding anyone who wasn't wearing protective eyewear (which, thankfully for Icarus, he had in the form of his helmet's visor). On the other hand, it didn't exactly protect against machine gun turrets, prompting the young Nightingale to dive behind a data stack.

'Man, why does this crap always happen to me?' the boy thought to himself as he ducked his head in order to protect it from the rain of bullets.

"So what? Am I supposed to just stay here until those things run out of bullets?"

As if as an answer to his question, though certainly not the one he was looking for, his heads-up-display flashed the remaining time he had on his mission clock.

"Are you _serious_? _Five _minutes?" he asked in disbelief. "What the hell?"

As he questioned the unfortunate state of his situation, a quick burst of bullets streaming through the data stack (and nearly through his head) quickly snapped him out of it.

"Oh right, still under fire. Almost forgot for a second there."

Looking around as best he could, the infiltrator activated his VISR allowing him to see through the data stack.

"Ok, five turrets, shooting about a hundred rounds per second…" he analyzed. "So basically I'm screwed until they just run out of ammo…"

Again, as if as a response from the universe, his HUD displayed the remaining time.

"Yes, I KNOW," he said irritably. "Fine, we'll just do this the old fashioned way."

Taking out his shock SMG attached to his lower back, the Nightingale activated his helmet's targeting system.

"Ok…c'mon…" he murmured as he leveled his weapon to the holo-targets on his visor. He waited for the focus points to line up, one second, two seconds, three seconds…

"Got it."

As fast as he could, the Nightingale rolled out from behind cover, and in five swift movements fired five bursts of energy bolts into the automated turrets. To his surprise, as well as relief, his plan pulled through, and all five turrets were disabled.

"Holy crap, I didn't think that would work," the Nightingale said in genuine awe.

"Hey where'd that ODST— Oh crap!" he started to wonder when he saw how much time he had left. Ignoring any tactical reasoning that came to him at the moment, the young infiltrator simply reactivated his active camo and sprinted toward the exit from which he came.

[**]

Elysium-Shinrin-New Kyoto Prefecture-City Outskirts-Pelican Delta 315 crash site

30 March 2550

08:03

Meanwhile at the last battlefield of the New Kyoto Nightingales, the elite fireteam of ODSTs known as Bravo Squad were searching the site for anything of value (particularly because they needed something of value seeing as they let the enemy escape).

"Bravo three, report," a trooper with gold stripes called to another one with green stripes.

"We haven't found anything yet sir. Bravo four said there was some communication logs, but other than that, nothing," the other trooper replied.

"Man that's not good. HIGHCOM is going to be pissed when they hear we lost both the Innies, and that classified data," the team leader replied with a sigh. Just then, another member of the team radioed in.

"Bravo leader, come in. This is Bravo five. I can see the Innies' pelican! It's about thirty klicks south of here," the team's marksman reported from the cliff.

"Great! Maybe we can actually get that data back! Get a few images of it. Record the Service Number, photograph markings, I don't care. Just make sure we'll be able to find it later," the sergeant ordered.

"You don't want to pursue? C'mon we can get them if we start running." The marksman replied.

"There's no way we're going to catch them. But at least we can say we have a way to track them."

"Copy that, Bravo Five out," he replied and switched off his radio. At the crash site, the sergeant called the members of the team together. The team's heavy weapons specialist, Bravo two, was the first to speak up.

"Sarge what's going on?"

"We're heading back to base. We can't catch a pelican on foot, so we'll transfer this info to command. They should be able to plan our next course of action," the leader answered and quickly switched his radio to call a pelican.

[**]

"Oh thank God, that was a close one…" Icarus said to himself as he caught his breath (due to having to sprint and climb through all the corridors, hallways, and stairwells he took to get there initially, as well as glide down from the top of the Mirage Tower and land/crash onto the building he arrived on).

"Ha, in your face you stupid timer…" he declared as he saw how he _barely _beat his mission timer after all. "Haha… owwww, it hurts to laugh…"

Fairly content with lying motionless on the air conditioning unit he crashed into and broke, Icarus probably wouldn't have gotten back up if his helmet phone didn't start to ring,

"Jr Lance Corporal Icarus Chase, reporting—"

"—BRO!"

After a short moment, in which the young soldier ripped his helmet off to prevent permanent hearing damage and gripped his head to stop it from vibrating, Icarus picked up his helmet to respond.

"Dammit Eire, what do you want?!" he asked angrily. "I'm in the middle of a mission!"

"Oh right, sorry bro," his nine-year-old brother, Eirenaios, apologized. "Um, mom just wanted to know how late you were going to be tonight."

"Why?"

"Because you didn't come back last night, and you still need to do your chores and stuff, and—"

"No, seriously," he cut him off. A brief pause followed,

"Ok fine, two guys in suits came by the apartment looking for you. Mom covered for you, but she's kinda mad right now."

"Why? What happened?"

"I dunno, but she doesn't seem very happy right now, so you're gonna wanna make a cover story before you get home."

"Oh, well thanks."

"Yeah, you can thank me later, just—oh shoot, she's back! Gotta go—!" the younger brother exclaimed before abruptly cutting the line.

"Well then…" the Nightingale said to himself.

After a few minutes of silence, during which he weighed the pros and cons of returning late so that he could skip fifth period, Icarus climbed back into the transport chute, connected himself to the harness, and took a breath as he shot down back to the educational district.

* * *

><p><strong>TranslationTrivia Notes:**

**1. Shinobi-dan, k****ōtai=Team Shinobi, retreat**

**2. Kuso=Dammit**

**3. Nanimo, Dei-kun: (it's) Nothing, David. (Dei-kun is an affectionate nickname that Candice has for David, similar to how Candice's nickname is Kyan-chan)**

**4. Ikimashō=Let's go.**

**Credits:**

**Chief Editor: TomBuchanan26**

**Chief Translator: Nekonya1234**


	5. Chapter 05

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, except the plot, characters, and setting. Everything else belongs to 343 Industries who are awesome because they don't sue me for using their stuff.**

* * *

><p>::<strong>Project: Nightingale<strong>::

::**Chapter 5**::

_Elysium→Agaia→New Angeles City→Iriswright Middle School_

_2 April 2550_

_09:00_

It was early in the morning, and for Icarus it was not a good one (not that they often were). The young infiltrator was sitting in his Algebra I class, vaguely listening to his teacher who was trying to explain several problems that the rest of the class didn't understand or care enough to do so.

Put simply, Icarus was very bored. Partially because he hated school, and partially because he already learned most of what he was technically supposed to learn this year.

One of the trait requirements for Nightingales was a natural ability to learn very quickly. This served several purposes: it made them easy to train, it made them much more adaptable (a skill that is extremely crucial for the Nightingales' line of work), and it allowed them to learn academics at a much faster pace. This last purpose allowed them to take accelerated courses, placing them lightyears ahead of their fellow students. This in turn allowed them to attend normal school as part of their stealth training, teaching them to hide in plain sight and blend into crowds, and making it so that their schoolwork doesn't interfere with their training.

To his credit, Icarus at least had taken the time to understand the material. He understands all of the formulas, definitions, and history that he gets retaught in class, and could easily pass any test, essay, or exam they threw at him. And he would, were he not ordered to deliberately do the opposite.

'This is so stupid. Why am I even here?' he thought to himself. As he looked out the window with his arm propping up his chin, he watched a sixth grade PE class playing soccer out on the grass.

"Mr. Chase!" his teacher, a middle-aged woman who seemed rather agitated at the moment, called on him, startling and causing him to jolt up.

"Uh sorry ma- Mrs. Furrow!" he answered nervously as he scratched the back of his head, "I was listening."

A couple students, mainly the overachieving mega-egos, snickered, a few others looked away pitifully, although most simply ignored and stayed silent. The teacher stared him down, as if looking for some way she could punish him.

"Very well Mr. Chase. If you were listening, then please give the answer to the problem."

Icarus took a look at the board. On the holographic screen was was a simple equation that only involved a few _somewhat_ complicated operations. All he had to do was solve for a variable, and in his head it only took less than a minute to solve.

"The answer is 'x' equals..." he started to say, but stopped mid sentence as remembered his orders, "...nineteen?"

His teacher paused for a second before sighing disappointedly, "No, Mr. Chase. The answer is not nineteen. Had you been listening, you would've known to divide both sides first, and then factor."

"Yes ma'am," the Nightingale answered.

"Please do better to pay attention, Mr. Chase, or you will not pass this class," she finished scolding before continuing on with her lecture. Icarus didn't say anything and simply put his head down in his arms dejectedly.

He hated doing that. Math certainly wasn't Icarus' strong suit, even if he was ahead of his classmates, but if there was something he hated having to do, it was having disappoint others. This was an issue all Nightingales faced, having to hide their true identities as to conceal themselves. Icarus, however, never truly understood that concept.

The Nightingale looked out the window again, though this time his attention was diverted to something else. A girl, who he had never seen before, wearing an unfamiliar uniform, that was being led around by an aide. Though virtually none of that was registering in his head, as all he could really focus on was how beautiful she was.

She had shoulder-length dark brown hair; a short and slender, though also athletic body frame; soft, delicate facial features with virtually no blemishes or markings; and a pair of vibrant, amber eyes. However as he admired her, there were two things he noticed that surprised him. One was her extremely emotionless expression. The other was that she was Japanese.

Typically, this wouldn't and shouldn't seem odd. Elysium was founded by, what would've been, American and Japanese settlers in the 2430s. Both settler groups had made a pact on mutual cooperation for settlement, and it's held for the last hundred years or so. Despite the cultural differences, they've always managed to look past them to get along and work together. Virtually no conflicts ever arose for those reasons, and eventually they developed their own unified culture. Though while they always managed to get along, the twin states, Agaia and Shinrin, were both mainly American and Japanese dominant respectively. New Angeles, being an Agaian city, was indeed composed primarily of American-descended people, thus making those of Japanese ancestry a relative minority (well relative in that there are only two groups). As with all things, there were exceptions. New Angeles wasn't devoid of Japanese people, there just weren't as many. Though the thing that was strange, and thus made Icarus curious, was that Japanese and American (or Shinrinese and Agaian alternatively) children _never_ attended the same schools. It wasn't necessarily out of any kind of contempt or enmity, it had simply been a sort of unspoken and universally accepted rule.

It didn't necessarily bother him as much as it gave Icarus something to think about.

[**]

"So these are the upper school classrooms, where your classes will likely be. And here is the field that where the other kids usually hang out and stuff during break. The cafeteria is over there…" the aide, a cheerful girl of about thirteen, narrated the different aspects of the school as she led the new transfer student around.

Candice Suzuki on the other hand couldn't possibly care less about what the girl was saying and was only vaguely listening. There was only one thing on the young Nightingale prodigy's mind, and that was how much she hated everything.

And to be honest, you couldn't really blame her.

The girl had just been forcibly taken from her home, her friends, and everything familiar to her. Her entire life had been changed, and everything had been taken from her.

"_You'll be fine Kyan. It'll only be for a short while. You'll be back before you know it,"_ her parents and commanding officer had told her. While she did her best to hold onto that hope, it did little to relieve the pain.

"Well that's the end of the tour," the girl said as they returned to the front entrance, "I don't know what the administration told you, so the rest is up to you. You're pretty much free to go for today. If you have any other questions, just ask the guys up at the front desk."

Candice nodded in acknowledgement. "Ariga…" she began to say, momentarily forgetting that she was _not_ in New Kyoto. "...Thank you."

"No problem," she said with a cheerful smile. "It's always nice to see new faces. And don't worry, I'm sure you'll make lots of friends." The girl patted her on the shoulder before skipping off.

Candice was left standing in the middle of the empty entrance lobby. After checking that she was alone, the young Nightingale pulled out a small hand-held computer from her pocket. She took a seat on a bench nearby as she checked the map to locate the training facility's concealed entrance. She muttered a few curses in Shinrinese when the unfamiliar layout of the school proved more challenging to figure out than she thought.

"It's in southern section of the school, at the bottom of the stairwell with the lockers," an unfamiliar voice suddenly spoke from behind her. Instinctively she sprang from her seat, entered into a defensive stance, and pivoted to face the voice's owner. The said speaker, she discovered, was the last person that she wanted to see at the moment, not that she wanted to see anybody anyways.

"Colonel Brooklyn," she stated as she saluted her new commanding officer. "Nightingale Junior Lieutenant Candice Suzuki reporting in, ma'am." Her expression and voice were so stoic and emotionless, it was impossible to tell just how much she despised the woman standing before her. The woman who had taken everything.

"At ease Lieutenant," she said as she returned the salute, "and you don't have to be so formal."

"Yes ma'am," the girl replied automatically, her blank expression refusing to change.

"Ok we'll work on that later," she muttered. "Anyways, I take it you were searching for the facility entrance?"

Candice nodded silently.

"Good, I'll give you a tour," she said as she handed her an access card, before turning and beckoning her to follow.

[**]

For Icarus, the day proceeded to be an all around average day, which he never found to be enjoyable. As the day normally went, he sat through about four more hours of school, idly waited during classes he technically already took, endured about five to seven insults from some of the students who didn't particularly like him (mainly due to an incident in fifth grade between them and Icarus and his friends, the other Nightingales), and he had to sit alone during break and lunch. All in all, he was relatively glad to hear the final bell ring. After getting his books from his locker (and a ten minute wait outside of the crowded and cramped locker hallways for the other students to clear out), Icarus headed over to the training facility.

As he proceeded to cross the campus (which actually was fairly large and did take a good amount of time to walk across), Icarus passed hundreds of ordinary students living ordinary lives, something Icarus envied them for.

_'They don't know what it's like. They don't know how lucky they are,'_ he thought spitefully. _'All they have to worry about are getting good grades and being popular. They don't have to worry about having to go on life-threatening infiltrations, or the possibility of losing your friends on a mission.'_

As soon as the hallway that led to the facility's concealed entrance cleared out, the young infiltrator passed through and descended the stairwell at the end. Upon reaching the poorly lit basement floor, he headed over to a set of lockers. He unlocked one of them, and after opening it removed one of the wall panels, revealing a computer screen and keyboard. After double checking the area, he inputted a code into the screen and after a moment the screen's display showed the word "verified" in green lettering. Icarus took a step back as the entire locker was split apart and descended through the floor, revealing a concealed door behind it. The Nightingale pulled out an access card from his pocket and swiped it along a card reader next to the door. The metal portal slid open, allowing Icarus to enter the facility. The entrance slowly sealed behind him as he walked in.

He entered the ops center, empty as always, and headed over to the central terminal. Activating the main computer, he signed into his account and checked the assignment notifications. It didn't say there were any extra assignments that he had to do, something he was grateful for, though something else caught his attention: the training assignments that are supposed to be daily were already completed. Icarus didn't mind, he hated having to do them anyways, though he knew he didn't do it. He then noticed something else that was new: next to the login panel, he noticed a user had been input.

"Who's Candice Suzuki?" He asked aloud as he read the name on the panel.

His answer came as a very swift kick to the side, knocking the wind out of his lungs, and him into the ground.

"What...*_gasp*_... the hell...*_gasp*... _was that for!?" he asked angrily as he gripped his side pain.

Instead of answering him however, the attacker planted their foot squarely in the center of his chest and pinned him to the ground.

The boy coughed in pain as his assaulter began crushing his ribs, and forced his eyes open so he could try to identify the person currently trying to puncture his left lung.

He was somewhat surprised to find that said person was a girl, though because he was a bit dazed from losing so much oxygen, he couldn't see the details of her face through his blurred vision. Icarus began to say something, though the crushing pressure on his chest made it somewhat difficult.

"Koko ni jibun no namae to mokuteki o nobe," the mysterious girl finally said in an emotionless monotone, "matawa watashi wa anata o korosudeshou."(1)

The boy she was trying to interrogate, however, was only more confused by her reply. Seemingly unsatisfied with his lack of a response, the girl pressed down with even more pressure.

Icarus, as he lay pinned and suffocating, decided that he should probably do something if he wanted to continue having the ability to breathe. Gripping the girl's foot with both hands, he started pushing against the force she was exerting into his chest and managed to relieve enough pressure to inhale. Feeling his strength return somewhat, he positioned his palms and fingers on the sole of her forward foot and pushed up as hard as he could. To his relief, he succeeded in throwing her off of him, causing her to stumble backwards and allowing the young boy to get back to his feet. He tried to get a better look at the girl, though his vision was still blurry. However he could see well enough, and knew well enough, to get into a defensive stance as she advanced on him again.

[**]

In the training area below the ops center where Icarus and the newcomer fought is another group of Nightingale children running an obstacle course. This one however is considerably smaller than Icarus' group was. Well, when it had more members that is.

The team consisted of only three members. Genevieve Wallace: a nine year-old fifth grader who lacks experience and self confidence, but makes up for it with her remarkable intelligence. Abraham Kent: an eleven year-old fifth grader whose athletic and physical abilities outmatch his comrades, though his academic and analytical skills (or lack thereof) leave a lot to be desired. And Tony Nichols: an eleven, almost twelve, year-old sixth grader, whose own physical and mental abilities are nothing special (by Nightingale standards) though his experience and passion are what sets him aside from the other two.

Off to the side of the room is Colonel Brooklyn as she watches the kids run the course. Standing next to her is Staff Sergeant Jordan Axel, the head training instructor at the New Angeles Nightingale facility.

"How've they been doing?" The project head asked.

"They've been progressing," Axel replied. "They've made a lot of improvement in the last few weeks, though they're still a long ways from graduating from intermediate training."

"So then providing the active-duty team with more members..."

"...is currently out of the question," he finished for her. She chose not to verbally respond and merely nodded.

"How is Chase anyways? I haven't seen him in awhile." Axel asked.

"Same as always. Apathetic, passive, sarcastic..." she listed off.

"How has he been doing, though?"

The colonel thought about the question for a second before replying, "Well he seems to have finally put two years ago behind him."

Axel nodded. "Chase and Wilson certainly were close. It must've been hard for them to get split apart like that."

Brooklyn nodded, though she didn't say anything back.

"By the way, the new kid, Suzuki, was it?"

"Yeah, what about her?"

"She's Shinrinese, you don't think that might affect her training here?"

The project overseer raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Axel shrugged his shoulders. "Well I don't have anything against the Shinrinese, but we can agree that we have our differences."

"I don't think so. Her training instructor told me her specialty on her team is adaptability—"

"Kinda like Chase then?" Axel observed.

"Right. I have a feeling that adapting to the differences shouldn't be too difficult for her."

'On the other hand, I have a feeling something else will be her biggest obstacle. Then again, that _is_ the reason I brought her here in the first place.' She thought to herself.

"That's good to know. Have she and Icarus met yet?" Axel asked.

"I doubt it. I brought her here immediately after she finished her tour. I told her she could explore the facility, though she chose to stay in the ops center," She explained.

"Though classes should've just gotten out for the middle school, right?"

"About half an hour ago, yeah."

"So Chase would have to head over to the ops center then?"

"I suppose so."

"You're not worried?"

"Why? It's not like they'll try to kill each other or something."

"I guess you're right. You should probably go check on them though."

"Yeah alright, let's go."

[**]

Icarus thought his day had started off pretty crappy, though for the most part he didn't think it could get any worse. At the same time, he also didn't think he'd be so wrong.

His fight against the mysterious girl was not exactly going in his favor. She clearly possessed a high degree of hand to hand combat ability, which markedly surpassed his own. Although he seemed to be able to keep up, all he managed to really accomplish was block or dodge ninety-five percent of her blows (the remaining five percent was him failing to do so). The situation for him certainly wasn't helped by the fact he could barely see.

Five minutes into their one-sided brawl, Icarus finally started to feel just how sore and tired his bruises and injuries were making him.

'Why the hell does this _always_ happen to me?' He thought to himself as his movements slowly became more sluggish and sloppy. As his injuries (and the pain that accompanied) started stacking and taking their toll on him, even his perception started slowing down from fatigue.

After semi-successfully blocking a fury of punches from the girl, his body finally gave way and he let his defense falter. The girl, noticing this, delivered a swift punch through the gap in his forearms. Her fist connected with his jaw, causing him to stumbled backwards quite a bit.

Stunned by the hit, he completely dropped his guard this time, leaving him fully exposed. With the fatigue fully catching up to him, Icarus's vision went into near slow motion as he saw the girl winding up for a kick. In lightning fast speed, she bent her left leg up, pivoted on her right foot, and sent a side kick straight into the boy's chest.

Icarus instinctively braced for the impact. However, just as he prepared himself to take to kick, his vision (for some unexplained reason) cleared up. And the very first thing he noticed was that the girl who was currently trying to beat him to a pulp, was the exact same girl he saw from earlier.

And just like before, (though for an entirely different reason) he completely lost his focus, and the kick _literally _sent him flying back into the wall behind him.

Icarus didn't feel any immediate pain, though he wasn't quite sure whether or not it was because the kick wasn't as strong as he thought, or because his body was so numb from all his other injuries. As he lay on the ground, back against the wall, he looked up to see the girl about to charge in for another attack. He shut his eyes, but chose not to try and endure it this time.

However, just as he expected to be dealt a killing blow, he heard his commanding officer shout out for someone to stop. And directly after he heard the sound of something get smashed into, though he didn't feel anything. Slowly he opened his eyes, and to his surprise saw Sergeant Axel, his training instructor, holding the girl back and Colonel Brooklyn checking him for injuries (which, noticeably, he had a lot of).

"Lance Corporal Chase, are you alright? Where are your injuries?" she asked him. He was surprised, even in his bruised state, that she addressed him by his rank and last name as she virtually never did that. Though he thought little of it and moaned "..._Everywhere_".

"Alright, we'll get you to the infirmary," she said, sounding relieved, as she helped him to his feet and supported him under his arm. She noticed the glare he was giving to the listless girl that her colleague was holding back by the shoulder.

Putting two and two together, the colonel realized the reason for the current situation. "Oh...um... Right," she said awkwardly. "Um... Lance Corporal Chase...meet your new partner..."

[**]

"You're kidding me right?" The indignant Nightingale asked angrily to his commanding officer.

"Icarus look," she began to reply. "I know you and Lt Suzuki didn't have the greatest of first impressions."

"You think?" he asked sarcastically, gesturing to the bandages that had been wrapped around his, well, everything really.

"Don't use that tone of voice with me," she told him sternly. "It wasn't right for her to attack you like that, but you did you even try to communicate with her? Explain the situation?"

"Oh right, because when somebody not only attacks you from out of nowhere and decides to crush your rib cage with their foot, but speaks a language you don't understand, the first thing you should try to do is explain the situation."

"Well first off, Lt Suzuki speaks and understand English perfectly, so that isn't any excuse."

"Well she didn't exactly make that clear," he muttered.

"Regardless, you and Candice are going to be working together from now on. You're going to have to learn to get along."

"Yeah, I don't see that happening anytime in the near future."

"Well is that really going to stop you from trying?"

"Well I don't exactly see any good reason to."

"Then what if I were to say that it's a direct order?"

"You'll have to give me a better one than that."

The colonel didn't show it, though she did get somewhat annoyed with how stubborn her student could be sometimes.

"Icarus, look." She sighed "I know how you feel, and why you feel it."

"Oh do you?" he incredulously inquired. "Well ok then ma'am, if you're an expert on how my mind works, then tell me. How do I feel?"

"I know more about you then you think, probably more than you know about yourself," she said affirmatively. "But an answer to your question, I know that this is about Xy."

Icarus didn't respond verbally, but inside he knew she was right.

"I know you and Xylophia were close," she continued, "and having someone here that seems like she might replace her will be hard." Icarus still didn't respond, prompting her to keep speaking. "Icarus, there's more to the reason I brought Candice here than just her skill sets."

"So why can't you tell me?"

"It's just not something I can explain. Look, you're just going to have to trust me on this."

The young nightingale stayed silent for a moment, thinking to himself 'Why the hell should I go along with this?'

"I'll give you sometime to think about it." Brooklyn said as she stood up, "You're free to go, there aren't any assignments, and I'm giving you the day off." She headed through the door, leaving him alone in the nurse's office. After a few minutes of sitting in silence, Icarus finally chose to get up to leave. He pulled his grey school hoodie over his head, partially because he was cold, though mostly for the reason of hiding the bandages wrapped around his arms. He winced as his sleeves brushed against his bruises.

"Junior Lance Corporal Chase," an unfamiliar voice asked from behind him as he stepped out of the nurse's office. He turned around to see his new partner standing in the hallway.

"Oh, Lieutenant Suzuki," he said, mentally confirming that she did indeed speak English. She stood about two and a half inches shorter than him, but the solid, emotionless gaze more than made up for it.

"I have been ordered to apologize for my behavior and actions earlier," she said, though her words' meaning felt blunted by the emotionlessness in her voice and expression.

Icarus was caught off guard by this, though he didn't show it. "It's no problem, you shouldn't worry about it," he replied. The girl nodded as she calmly began walking past him. She had walked about ten paces before Icarus finally said something.

"Um...wait," he forced himself to say.

"Yes?" she responded quietly.

"Um... I was...um..." He stuttered as he tried to get the words out.

'Damnit Icarus, c'mon! You're just asking her to... What _am_ I asking her?'he thought to himself.

"If you're going to ask me out on a date, then no. I'm not interested." She said quietly as she noticed his hesitation.

"Wha-! N-no! N-nothing like that!" he stumbled over his words as he tried to explain himself, though his face did start to turn bright red.

"Then state your question."

"I...erm... I was going to say...well...since we're supposed to be working together...maybe we can be... friends?" He asked rather uncertainty. His anxiety was not helped by her absolutely emotionless stare.

"If I am ordered to, then perhaps," she finally answered before turning around and walking back to the entrance.

Surprised by her unexpected answer, Icarus stood in silence for a good half minute before finally saying something, "Excuse me?"

She stopped walking.

"What do you mean, 'if I am ordered to'?" he asked. She didn't respond immediately.

"My orders are to serve on the New Angeles Nightingale Team. If my orders include forming bonds of friendship with other people, then I will," she answered monotonously and began to leave, leaving Icarus alone in the center of the hallway.

"I guess that's a no…"

[**]

Icarus made his way back up to the ground floor and towards the exit. As it was a few hours past dismissal nobody was outside, save for Suzuki who was sitting on the ledge waiting for her pick up. Icarus surveyed the area and saw a civilian warthog with a black body and green racing stripes painted on it parked in front of the school. Knowing only one person who had a car like that, he headed over to it.

"Hey bro! Over here!" the seventeen-year old boy sitting in the driver seat shouted over to the young Nightingale when he noticed him approaching. Icarus smiled, for the first real time that day, and waved back.

"Hey Zak," he said as he got to the car and bumped fists with his unofficial big-brother. "How'd you know to come get me?"

"Well your mom called and told me you were getting out early today, something about you not having to do something after school," he replied. "She had to take care of something at Eire's school, so she asked me if I could get you."

"Ok cool, just wondering," he replied as he threw his backpack into the back before climbing into the passenger seat. Before hopping in he took one last glance at the transfer student, and, for a second, considered asking her if she wanted a ride home, though chose not to when he remembered her words. Still, he couldn't help but stare at her as they drove away.

"She's cute," Zak said suddenly as he noticed his young friend's gaze.

"Wh-what?" he asked awkwardly, feeling his face turning red.

Zak grinned, "That girl you were staring at. She's cute. Is she your friend?"

"N-no! She's just a new transfer student!" he answered indignantly.

"Do you know her?"

"No-I mean...kinda?"

"Kinda?"

Icarus averted his gaze towards the floor of the truck and shoved his hands in his pants pockets. "It's...complicated." He finally answered.

"If you say so." Zak could've pressed for more, though decided against it, feeling he had picked on him enough for the day.

"By the way, we have to pick my sister up before we head home."

Icarus nodded, "No problem. I'm not in any rush."

Zak drove down the street, passing a couple of the other schools in the Educational District. A few that let their students out later still had a bunch of kids hanging out. Eventually they crossed over into the Community District and reached their destination. Zak pulled into a parking space in front of the building.

It was a martial arts dojo, with a design that resembled a Shaolin temple. Through the front window they could see a short girl, a little less than three-and-a-half feet tall, wearing a black karate gi, and facing off with an opponent about twice her size. Despite what appeared to be an incredibly unfair match, as soon as the fight started the small girl showed that she was more than capable of fending for herself. She seemed to be able to use her size to her advantage, and quickly dodged any move her bigger opponent tried to make. Along with that, she was able to deflect any attack, and within a few minutes actually disarmed him. The sensei ended the spar, and both opponents bowed to one another before they were dismissed, though the he did call the girl over to talk with her. Zak, who was getting tired of waiting, decided to honk the horn a few times. The girl, who saw her brother's car turned to say goodbye, grabbed her bag, and headed out the door.

"Sorry I'm late onii-chan(2). I had to—" She started to explain as she noticed the other boy in the car, "—Icarus!" she exclaimed cheerfully and hugged him.

"Hey Alice," the young infiltrator replied with smile as he returned the hug. "How've things been?"

"They've been great! Did you see me sparring?"

"I did," he answered with a nod. "I was really impressed!" Alice's eyes lit up in excitement.

"Really? You think so?"

"Yeah it was…"

"You know I'd hate to interrupt," Zak interjected sarcastically, "but if it's all the same with you guys, I'd rather go home now."

"Right… C'mon get in. You can tell me all about it on the way home," Icarus said as he hopped out to let her in. As soon as everyone was inside they started heading home.

[**]

_Back at the school..._

"I told you this was a bad idea," Axel told his superior as he poured a mug of coffee.

"No you didn't," she replied dryly as she watched Jr Lt. Suzuki leave the school grounds.

"Fine, whatever," the training instructor responded with a snort.

"You don't have to be passive aggressive about it," the colonel told him.

"I'm not being passive aggressive," he retorted. "And in any case, I'm saying it now: this was a mistake."

Brooklyn didn't respond immediately, taking a minute to stare out the window and sipping her coffee thoughtfully.

"It's only been a day, Jordan," she finally answered. "You're going to have to give it more time before you call it an utter failure."

Axel sighed, "I really hope you know what you're doing."

Outside, a flock of Elysium avians flew over the skyscrapers, heading off towards the mountains.

**To be continued...**

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><p><strong>TranslationTrivia Notes**

**1. "Koko ni jibun no namae to mokuteki o nobe**, **matawa watashi wa anata o korosudeshou."="State your name and purpose, or I will kill you." (Apologies for my pathetic attempt at Japanese. If anyone knows how this should actually be written, please notify me so I can correct it. I do not mean any disrespect by this, and would most prefer it if is right.) **

**2. Onii-chan=big brother**

**Credits:**

**Chief Editor: TomBuchanan26**

**Chief Translator: Nekonya1234**

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Well I hope you guys enjoyed this short "weekly episode" thing I got to do, because I unfortunately won't be able to do that with the next few chatpers :(. Don't worry, I'll make sure not to take too long with the updates, it's just that I'm not sure how frequent I can make them**

**Though in any case, I hope you enjoyed the story, and hope you will return when I do. Until then, read, review, subscribe, and happy gaming,**

**Takaro out**


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